Comments on: Net Worth Update: August – $167,997.16 (saweet)

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:36:54 +0000

Exactly. You just have to REALLY want it. Gotta sacrifice sometimes right?

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:46:32 +0000

Gotcha! Big bucks! Another positive anecdote for the economy. I agree with you on that other post… anybody can do it and make money, they just have to try!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 13:40:34 +0000

Hustlin’ baby! Work my a$$ off outside the 9-5, you know about that ;)

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 04:34:02 +0000

Wow, that’s a huge cash savings bump! How did you do it after your expenses and with a 75K income? You need to make around $11,000 gross to put away $9,200 net no?

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:39:26 +0000

Thx dude :) Yeah, the other $20k is set aside for other specific things too (grad school, house stuff, etc etc) but I def. see your point. I’m gonna keep going my own way here for a couple more months and then re-group and see if it still makes sense. Who knows, maybe I’ll just hate seeing that c/c debt there one day and just wipe it clean!

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:04:53 +0000

Great stuff! Good luck w/ the 50k! A lot of folks will tell you what they think about CC debt and other things like that, but do what works for you. But what about the “other 20K” in the cash savings account? If you wanted you could take the $$ out of there and it wouldn’t slow you down from the 50k savings, right? It may actually speed you up a tiny bit because you could put the CC payments into the 50k fund instead of the other funds. Just a thought.

But it’s “personal” finance, so do what works for you. As long as it “works” you’ll be fine. And we’re not talking about a ton of money anyhow.

Good luck!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 23:30:03 +0000

@Doctor S – We’re all gonna make it to our first million in different ways, my friend :) Just gotta find our inner secrets of getting there! (but yeah, shoot me an email)

@Jenna – Don’t know myself either, but I’m sure the economy has something to do with it like StackingCash mentioned. Used IS pretty smart, even if it’s only 30 days used! Or even 1 day used! The second new cars go off that lot it loses mad money. I’ve seen people take a $5k hit before, it’s crazy (granted, it was a more expensive car too).

@StackingCash – 15 year loan?! You are a rock star!!! Man that is impressive, seriously. You have impressed the pants off of me ;) And I’ll agree on the “better rate” if I paid off the mortgage(s). Only problem there is that everytime you pay off the debt, your cash goes out the window! No getting it back if you need it for whatever reason – even if you turn around and sell your house ASAP in this market. Well, at least MY house :) Your payments now = equity. (I’m also saving $50k to start my own venture – so I need to keep it as liquid as possible in case that day comes sooner than later)

@JMK – No worries, I get asked this every month it’s all good ;)

RE: $50k in savings – I’m working towards a huge cushion for when I start my own company/work for my self. I could put it in stocks and mutual funds and cds, etc, but since this day may come sooner than later (hopefully and not hopefully at the same time! haha…) we feel much more comfortable having it in the bank within 24/7 reach. Once I hit $50k, I’ll go ahead and invest anything on top of it, and maybe even part of this $50k if I get out on my own and realize I don’t need to tap it real soon.

RE: Investments – Yup, maxed out both 401(k) and Roth already this year.

RE: Credit Card Debt – It’s all about priorities for me, and right now saving $50k is the #1 goal. I could easily pay off the c/c debt but I’d rather concentrate on the big boy at hand right now – as stupid as it sounds, I don’t mind paying the $10 or so extra interest every month while it’s there.

Keeping the balance also reminds me that I need to work harder and find new ways to come up with extra cash squeezed from my budget! If I just paid it all off asap, I wouldn’t learn/do anything different and I just let myself get away with it ;) Does that make sense? In a way I’m punishing myself for not staying on top of it, and since it’s not the #1 priority I only knock off portions when I get *extra* non-accounted for money. At least for now.

By: JMK

JMK — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:21:56 +0000

I’m fairly new here and maybe I’ve missed the whole discussion on the savings, but why are you accumulating $50k not in a retirement account or anyplace you’d get a benefit? Have you maxed out all types of contributions? Is this in anticipation of a major purchase and you need it accessible? I see you’ve got the emergency fund in place so it’s not for that. Sorry, but why wouldn’t you pay off the credit card asap?

By: Jenna

Jenna — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:10:12 +0000

@StackingCash – Good insight. Although I think I’ll always drive a used car. I can’t justify buying something that looses about $1,000 as soon as it lives a parking lot.

By: StackingCash

StackingCash — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:51:13 +0000

@Jenna: I think used cars are in high demand right now because fewer people can afford new cars. Makes me want to sell mine and get a new one :)

Zillow is screwy, especially here in Las Vegas. However, after our big property tax reduction, I think Zillow unfortunately got a more accurate reading of housing prices here. Suffice to say, my home is worth as much as I bought it for 10 years ago. It doesn’t matter much because I did a 15 year loan :) Having some equity and knowing I will have a house paid off in 5 years is awesome!

I was wondering if it would be a good idea to pay your mortgage down to get an instant 6.875% rate of return? Probably a better rate than your cash savings is giving you.